Science and Scientific Research have come a long way. As human beings, our history has been shaped directly by our scientific enlightenment. Compared to how long our species has been around, scientific revolution can be termed as still being somewhat young. In this time span, however, man has evolved in terms of understanding, manipulating and better utilizing available resources. Science itself, or the broader application of scientific laws, has been around for as long as humans have been around. Despite science being around, scientific revolution gets its name from a period of accelerated innovation and research in scientific disciplines of math, physics, chemistry, medicine, astronomy and biology to mention but a few.
Towards the end of the Renaissance, Europe had set itself up for the scientific revolution; people had developed freethinking, education had taken root, and the population saw a steady rise. The world needed innovativeness. To understand scientific revolution, one must span a period between the 1550s through to the 1700s (Watkins).The industrial revolution, being a term coined by historians can be challenged as to whether it did exist or it is the creation of historians with colorful language. To assess this, one needs to look objectively at the milestones achieved during this period and whether or not those signs were indeed essential to life as we see today (Watkins). Were the discoveries and inventions in science triggered by an intellectual revolution or were they part of life’s inevitabilities?
Similar to all other famous epochs of time, the scientific revolution has its notable mentions. Nicholas Copernicus, Isaac Newton, and Galileo Galilei are just a few of those credited with much of the new concepts of science. Important to note is that these individuals only inspired inventions and discoveries rather than do much of the inventing themselves (“What Were The Effects Of The Scientific Revolution?"). The scientific revolution saw a paradigm shift in intellectual authority, moving away from the likes of Ptolemy, Galen, and Aristotle (Gumm, Luu, and Cortes). The church infamously stifled the scientific revolution because it became a substitute for questions religion could not answer.
It all starts with Copernicus and how he famously overturned Ptolemaic revolution laws. The Copernican Revolution sent ripples throughout the growing scientific community. It showed that old believed concepts of nature could be changed and that nothing was free from constructive criticism. In the early 1500s, Copernicus laid the foundation for a planetary solar system that revolved around the sun (Watkins). Understanding our immediate reaches of the universe meant that concepts could be developed to make our world make sense. Copernicus’ thinking is what modern astronomy is laid upon. Modern astronomy led to spin-off innovations like the magnifying lenses for telescopes, geo location using stars and heavenly bodies to the modern day satellites (Historyguide.org). The Copernican Revolution could not account for the then alien force of gravity, which would be later touched on be Isaac Newton.
Kepler, another notable astronomer, had developed three rules for planetary motion between 1909 and 1919. Kepler wondered why planets moved in an elliptical orbit, why planets revolved at varying speeds and most importantly, how to relate one planet to all the rest regarding orbit (Gumm, Luu, and Cortes). Galileo would invent the most advanced telescope of his time and at around 1609. He was the first man to see the craters of the moon. Galileo was making changes to Aristotle’s work, and this was another turning point in astronomy. He helped answer Kepler’s questioning rules with the aid of his telescope. At the same period, Galileo had invented the microscope and this broke new grounds in the fields of medicine and biology (Gumm, Luu, and Cortes). Organisms suddenly had smaller components beyond what the eye could see. Bio-analysis was never the same as this would develop further to the powerful electron microscopes of today.
Before the scientific revolution, Medicine had been heavily influenced by the works of Galen. In the earlier half of the 16th century, Paracelsus dared to challenge Galen’s teachings. Paracelsus believed that Medicine ought to have been researched using calculated experiments instead of the trial and error discoveries made by Galen. He was the first person who spoke against early medical procedures like bloodletting. Paracelsus was the first person to question Galen’s notion that diseases were caused by bodily imbalances. Bad seeds were Paracelsus’ understanding of bacteria or germs as it were. ‘Bad Seeds,' were later scientifically proven to be bacteria and viruses. Picturing modern medicine without this fundamental truth is hard. Harder still, it is to enumerate the lives saved by abolishing barbaric practices like bloodletting.
The scientific world still had one most pressing puzzle piece that needed filling. Isaac Newton gave sense and cut across nearly all astronomical beliefs. Newton explained how the round world did not spill the ocean’s waters. Newton’s conclusively made clear how the planets and the moon were held in place. Finally, the world understood concepts of speed, momentum, collision and trajectory of an object moving in the air. This helped in later developments in aviation, road construction, space travel and astronomy. Newton’s laws of motion and gravity, documented in his book Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687) were the cornerstones of physics theories after that. We finally had broken through the most important understandings of how force worked to affect a stationary or moving object. Without the Newtonian laws, it is highly questionable whether the world would be what it is without them.
The renaissance was a period of heightened cultural and spiritual understanding of man. The scientific revolution was like a radical wave of intellectual thinking that refused to let questions go unanswered. It is evident that the period between 1500 and 1700 saw rapid scientific development. That in itself should be evidence enough to how revolutionary the revolution was. In our understanding, a revolution sets out to change parameters in which it is born. A revolution further sets precedence for its preservation (Watkins). The world has changed from how it was in the pre-modern era. Scientific technology has always more than doubled in every successive experimental period to the extent that today’s 50 years can be equated to the 300 centuries before it. Yes, the scientific revolution lived up to its modern day billing in that it laid groundwork for science as we know it today.
Works Cited
"What Were The Effects Of The Scientific Revolution?". eNotes. N.p., 2014. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.
Gumm, Triana, Christine Luu, and Sophia Cortes. "AP European History - CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION PERIOD 4." Apeurohist.wikispaces.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.
Historyguide.org. "The Medieval Synthesis And The Secularization Of Human Knowledge: The Scientific Revolution, 1543-1642 (1)." Historyguide.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Mar. 2016
Watkins, Jeffery. "[Regents Prep Global History] Change & Turning
Points: Scientific Revolution". Regentsprep.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.
